Bears defense gift-wrapped game for Vikings

There was very little to be upset about from the Bears’ defense in much of Sunday’s 23-20 loss to the Minnesota Vikings — at least for three and a half quarters. The pass rush was definitely an area of concern and must improve if the Bears want to win more games this season.

But for 55 of the 60 minutes on Sunday, the defense held the Vikings to 6 points — 7 more came from special teams — bent but did not break against Adrian Peterson, and held quarterback Teddy Bridgewater in check.

In other words, they played well enough to win. And then gave it away.

Bridgewater led the Vikings on two consecutive scoring drives with less than five minutes to go in the game that gave the Vikings a three-point victory. I feel confident saying that it was more failure on the part of the Bears defense than it was credit to Bridgewater’s play.

Bridgewater completed just 10 of 20 passes for 73 yards and an interception through three quarters. On the final two drives, he passed for 106 yards and a touchdown while completing 6 of 7 passes.

That just can’t happen. Nobody is going to confuse Bridgewater with Aaron Rodgers. The Bears defense needs to learn to close out games.

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